“Violence begets violence,” Windholz wrote, concluding with a plea to pray for women who get abortions and doctors who perform them.

The lawmaker confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that the posting is accurate but said she had nothing more to say about it…

The comments sparked and angry backlash from supporters of abortion rights.

“She basically tried to justify the violence against (abortion) providers and Planned Parenthood, and there is no justification,” said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, which represents about 400 abortion providers.

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GOP Rep. JoAnn Windholz (center).

The reactions from Colorado Republicans to last Friday’s terrorist attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs have run the gamut, from heartfelt expressions of sympathy for the victims to defensive posturing and continued criticism of the organization. Even Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt, who has routinely said things about Planned Parenthood’s “demonic spirit of murder” in the past that could be construed as incitement, unequivocally condemned the alleged terrorist “whatever his motives.”

But in at least one shocking case, as the Colorado Independent’sMarianne Goodlandreports, a sitting Colorado lawmaker appears to directly blame Planned Parenthood for the mass shooting at their own clinic last Friday. And even harder to explain, it’s one of the most vulnerable GOP freshman members of the Colorado House of Representatives:

Adams County state Rep. JoAnn Windholz blames Planned Parenthood for the Nov. 27 shooting, at its Colorado Springs clinic, that left three dead and nine injured. She is one of the few Colorado Republicans to issue a statement in the wake of the attack.

“Violence is never the answer, but we must start pointing out who is the real culprit. The true instigator of this violence and all violence at any Planned Parenthood facility is Planned Parenthood themselves. Violence begets violence. So Planned Parenthood: YOU STOP THE VIOLENCE INSIDE YOUR WALLS.”

Windholz referenced the Center for Medical Progress video that alleged Planned Parenthood and the Colorado Springs clinic were trafficking in baby body parts, the same video suspected shooter Robert Lewis Dear referred to in his oft cited “No more baby parts” statement after his attack.

“Planned Parenthood has no shame,” Windholz said. “These facts and overall mission of the abortion industry would easily send anyone over the hill who wasn’t rational.” [Pols emphasis]

We’ve posted Rep. JoAnn Windholz’s full statement after the jump. Re-reading it, we keep coming back to these words:

Violence is never the answer, but…

Folks, this is a sitting Republican Colorado lawmaker.

Violence is never the answer, but…

Rep. JoAnn Windholz was elected to her House seat in 2014 by the narrowest of margins, barely defeating incumbent Rep. Jenise May despite the biggest “Republican wave” elections in Colorado since Democrats retook control of the state in 2004. In the previous presidential election year of 2012, May had absolutely dominated the race, defeating her GOP opponent by 15 points.

All we can say is, when these nigh-on unspeakable comments about the Planned Parenthood terror attack find their way into ads and mailers against Rep. Windholz next year, she’s screwed. There is a strong likelihood that we will look back on this moment next November as the moment Rep. Windholz’s brief political career imploded.

Violence – Where it starts.

The freedoms we enjoy in the United States include those that were made up to fit the audience and unsubstantiated numerical support, specifically the right to an abortion. When a violent act happens at a Planned Parenthood (pph) facility (most recent in Colorado Springs) the left goes on “auto-pilot” blaming everyone insight when they should be looking in a mirror. Free Speech has brought to light the insidious selling of baby body parts (pph has no shame). These facts and overall mission of the abortion industry would easily send anyone over the hill who wasn’t rational.

The “war on women” is what pph began with Margaret Sanger and it has turned into a war on the family, especially children. It has changed children from a blessing to a commodity making it very hard to consider ourselves to be a civilized respectful rational society.
Violence is never the answer but we must start pointing out who is the real culprit. The true instigator of this violence and all violence at any pph facility, is pph themselves. Violence begets violence. So pph, YOU STOP THE VIOLENCE INSIDE YOUR WALLS. My question is, if abortions were free at pph, how long would they stay in business? Pro-Life organizations offer their caring services saving women and children for free every day and they clean up the mess that pph leaves behind.

Pray Daily for the women who abort, their children, and the providers.

And when people complain about her disgusting speech I'm sure your good friend modster will whine that her right to freedom of speech is being violated by “disgusting” lefties despite the fact that she isn't going to be prosecuted, thrown in jail or sent to a reeduction for expressing herself. Apparently Modster thinks freedom of speech means you get to say whatever you want and nobody can criticize you, protest, sue you for libel or boycott you for saying it. He knows as much about the constitution as all of his allegedly constitution loving friends do. Nothing.

Once again, Democrats ignoring the changing demographics in Adams and Pueblo Counties. You did this in 2014 and you're still doing it. In the olden days, Adams and Pueblo were rock-ribbed Democratic. In both instances, many Democrats were not social liberals. Now in Adams, with the construction of DIA and the influx of larger, more conservative sub-divisions, these social arguments will have less and less impact. Frankly, the area where she lives either doesn't care (because the vote Republican anyway), isn't a social liberal so this won't make any difference, or won't hear about this. Democrats ignore reality in Adams County at their peril. Don't be so flip about this. Don't take this as in any way an endorsement of her remarks or support of her. I'm a former President of Colorado NARAL. But, I think you ignore the real issues that will make a difference in this house district. In addition, how'd that abortion stuff work out for Sen. Mark Udall in one of the most pro-choice states in the union? Oops.

Echoing BC's response. I come from a world that is overflowing with single-issue voters. They're impervious to these kinds of narratives. Solid, caring people, but nothing. I repeat, nothing transcends their belief that their framework of 'life' is the only one that matters.

My take: Windholz is shamelessly exploiting the PP massacre to get her name in the news, and to soak up a few Right to Life dollars.

But it will backfire on her: In the same 2014 election in which Windholz won by 237 votes, Adams County voters rejected the #67 Personhood amendment by 59 -40%.

And by the way, Udall won in Adams County by a couple of points, so I wouldn't be too quick to oversimplify the views of Adams County voters on social issues. I don't know what happened with the May vs. Windholz election; perhaps some Adams County residents will weigh in. It wasn't money; May raised $15K to 4K for Windholz.

Was it a scandal, either real or made up? A nasty ad campaign? Now I’m curious.

Pretty sure that Udall winning by just a couple of points isn't exactly evidence that Democratic strength is holding steady. Glad you're so confident and this particular candidate may be a weak one but I think we'd all do well to take Craig's advice about avoiding over confidence.

As far as scandals, real or manufactured, and nasty ad campaigns go those things will be with us as long as elections are with us so the trick is always going to be to figure out how to win even though the other side isn't playing nice which is to say political business as usual.

The fact that the majority of Colorado voters have rejected personhood repeatedly by large margins has certainly not translated to an unwillingness to elect Republicans, either locally or statewide, even though everyone knows the GOP is anti-choice. Heck it’s right there in their platform. So I wouldn't be too confident about a strong connection there either.

This pathetic joke is my state representative. I am still shocked that she defeated May, even in a GOP landslide year. I guess this could be described as a swing district because we did have Priola before May. I will do what I can to get this gasbag voted out.